2213 - sync to device [#16376]

[Barry4679]

#1 not all requested playlists are not generated... it only creates Album playlists .. ie. The folders icon on the Summary tab shows only album playlists.
#2. These icons are not populated by a sync ... sometimes they are invisible, which is an issue I reported eralier ... but even if they are visible, and I do a sync ... sync completes ... these nodes are empty, until I navigate away from, and back to, >D&S>MyPhone\Summary
#3 Config change not persisted. Question: How|when are the Other Media folders used? ... I uncheck these folders, and Apply changes, but you do not persist my changes?

[Ludek]

#1 this generates playlists for albums when you selected albums on sync-list. If you selected artists then it generates playlists for artists.
I agree that this is not clear much, it is a very old feature that have been always presented in MM4. I guess that generating playlists for albums/artists was not used much anyway, it is probably useful only for storages and SD cards that are inserted in a car radio (not browseable by album). But for phones and iPods (that can list music by album) it is rather useless feature. i.e. I suppose that we don't plan to do anything further about this feature, though I agree that we should make this clearer, added some suggestions to improve the clearness here: https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view ... 878#c55418

#2 the icons are not populated on sync, but after connecting the device. i.e. whenever the device is connected then the icons appears and whenever the device is disconnected then the icons disappear (as the device is no longer browsable). If this is not how it works for you then PM-me debug log.

#3 they are auto-populated from the target masks, you would need to exclude them from the target masks / location to completely disappear from the other media files section, it was discussed here: https://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewt ... 30&t=95356

[Barry4679]

Thanks for the info. I agree that these are not mainstream facilities, but they are hard to understand.

#1 this generates playlists for albums when you selected albums on sync-list. If you selected artists then it generates playlists for artists.
I agree that this is not clear much, it is a very old feature that have been always presented in MM4. I guess that generating playlists for albums/artists was not used much anyway, it is probably useful only for storages and SD cards that are inserted in a car radio (not browseable by album). But for phones and iPods (that can list music by album) it is rather useless feature. i.e. I suppose that we don't plan to do anything further about this feature, though I agree that we should make this clearer, added some suggestions to improve the clearness here: https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view ... 878#c55418

Good luck trying to clearly describe this overloaded function in the tiny space that you could afford in the UI.

Re your suggested description change .... I think "music selected by artist" is clearer than "selected artists" ... ie. the user may assume that if an album is explicitly selected, then that is also an implicit partial "selection" of the artist ... I think that my suggestion is a tiny bit less likely to add confusion to an already confusing situation.

There is some problem just leaving it to the User to select which playlists that they want you to generate? ... ie. if I check Generate Album, & also Artist, playlists, then you just follow these instructions regardless of how I selected the tracks?

#2 the icons are not populated on sync, but after connecting the device. i.e. whenever the device is connected then the icons appears and whenever the device is disconnected then the icons disappear (as the device is no longer browsable). If this is not how it works for you then PM-me debug log.

I think that what I was seeing must have been a 1st through problem ... ie. I did a sync which copied tracks to my phone, then clicked on the "Music' icon on the Summary tab, and the device still appeared to be empty ... but it was OK once I navigated elsewhere in the Media Tree, and then returned to >D&S>MyPhone ... obviously more confusing than what you have implemented for GPM sync ... ie. I click the AllTracks icon on the GPM Remote Content tab, and you respond by scanning and building the requested display.

I can't replicate this now ... I will try again when I next install a fresh version of MM5

#3 they are auto-populated from the target masks, you would need to exclude them from the target masks / location to completely disappear from the other media files section, it was discussed here: https://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewt ... 30&t=95356

Wow, that is ugly ... is that migration of an old MM4 feature also?

Hopefully I don't understand what you were saying in that other thread.

It looked like what was being said was this:

• you give me a checkbox for sync from OtherMediaFiles - Video, which is defaulted to On

• And you provide a default for the Video sync to location on my phone

• All good so far

• But if I want to ensure that there is no video sync activity, I turn off the checkbox, that you provided ... but you ignore, and silently don't persist my action, because I didn't also reset the default location ... ?

Regardless of the fact that I obviously don't understand the purpose for these settings, I don't understand why there is a checkbox which I can alter, but where you don't persist my change.

[Ludek]

#3: yes, it is migration of an old MM4 feature also.
it was added in the past when there was no MMA yet and scanning whole storage over MTP was incredibly slow, this settings limit the scanned directories.
As its tooltip says: "Describes any other directories that should be scanned for media" : https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6lb3ssad8n7x ... 2.png?dl=0

[Barry4679]

As its tooltip says: "Describes any other directories that should be scanned for media"

Thanks, but I read that tooltip before opening this thread.
It didn't add to my understanding.

But if the tooltip had included some background information (like in your comment below) I may have understood quicker.

it was added in the past when there was no MMA yet and scanning whole storage over MTP was incredibly slow, this settings limit the scanned directories.

The issue is that the MM sync operations are initially very complex, and the UI does bugger all to help. .. I don't want to get bogged down by listing the other sync issues UI here again.

This issue is:

• I can see that bi-directional sync locations seem to be controlled by the "=>Library" and the "=>Device" tabs

• but then there is this "Other Media Files" checkbox folder list, which has no well described role to play, and by default all the folders are checked ... any interaction is unclear ... their existing description and tooltip does nothing to clarify their role

• and when I uncheck them ... and apply that change ... you do not persist it ??!!!

I now understand that there are two separate processes being controlled here; scan and also sync.
This is clear to you ... I don't think that it is clear to user trying to understand what you have developed.

If other people are like me, they just came here to sync some fresh music to their phone.

I think that it the UI should make it clear what the "Other Media Files" setting is for. eg:

Section Heading: Scanning your device - performance settings:
Tooltip: "Scanning for existing media on your device can be a slow process ... you can use this setting to restrict the scope of the scan .. nb. Syncing and scanning of an android device is greatly enhanced by installing the optional MMA app."

And i still don't understand why you don't persist the setting